Like a Bollywood film, Nicolas Degennes creates an extravaganza of colour to make everyday life a dream.
"I saw India as a bombardment of colours bursting forth to the rhythm of filmi music. I had already been a fan of this infectious, upbeat music for a long time, but of course it was the imagery that really grabbed me — Bollywood and its palettes of colours burst with beams of light.
Melodramatic love stories… But love stories all the same, with all the emotion, the ardour, the passion of hearts that are torn apart and the struggle through hardship … The stuff of life! And the women! So beautiful, vivacious, dazzling…… and yet so sweetly demure.
I have been, sometimes without realizing it, inspired by historical, traditional India. A mysterious, magical, disquieting India. The India of symbols and thousands of gods, where even cows and elephants are made up and 'bejewelled'. The India of fairy tales, of Maharajas and especially Maharanis, wrapped up in their silk saris and covered in precious jewels.
Words and images that take us beyond our boundaries.
History, reality and fantasy join hands."
Nicolas Degennes